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NPT Reviews of Books and other Material

A collection of book reviews to help you pick the perfect read for your national park escape

I love technology and the national parks, so it's always interesting to see how traditional books transfer into the electronic medium. Daryl Hunter's new eBook – “Grand Teton: Photography & Field Guide” is a good first addition by a very knowledgable writer and skilled photographer who is making the challenging move to the electronic world of publishing.

Today is March 11, a date North American birders have been looking forward to for quite some time. This is the publication date for the second edition of the Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley. Let the quibbling begin.

National park partners -- friends groups and cooperating associations -- are integral to the health of the National Park System in these days of economic malaise and political dogfighting. But is the National Park Service properly leveraging, or even monitoring, those groups? Not according to a book examining park philanthropy.

What are the rarest birds in North America? If we’re talking about birds that breed on the continent, Whooping Cranes and California Condors come to mind. There are only a few hundred of each alive today. Kirtland’s Warblers are the rarest songbird, with a little more than a couple thousand pairs in existence.

There is no better time than now -- with the searing aspects of a shuttered National Park System still fresh -- to sit down with a copy of To Conserve Unimpaired, The Evolution of the National Park Idea.

Though there's a pile of books on the edge of my desk waiting to be reviewed, Mike O'Connor's book jumped to the top of the heap when it arrived at my door. Outwardly, My Do Bluebirds Hate Me? is not a book about national parks, but the wisdom the author offers can be carried into the parks.

The dismantling of dams along the Elwha River in, and just outside, Olympic National Park has been described as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. Trying to follow the story from afar is difficult, at best, which makes Elwha, A River Reborn, a good book to read.

Hiking and Traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway by Leonard M. Adkins is the "go-to" book on every hike on the Parkway. From a few steps off the pavement to strenuous hikes, Mr. Adkins details every place you can walk. There is lots of invaluable information in the appendices, as well.

Young children can get a little stir crazy riding in cars or planes for long distances en route to a national park vacation. That's where books -- yes, books! -- come in. And with My Nature Book: A Journal and Activity Book for Kids in hand, your kids can prepare for their vacation while heading there, and then document it in the same book.

How many times have you found yourself in a national park gazing at an animal track, a tree, or perhaps just an insect, and wondered what exactly you were looking at? Well, if your plans are taking you to Yellowstone or Grand Teton national parks, you might want to pick up a copy of A Field Guide To Yellowstone And Grand Teton National Parks.

Not many new hiking trails arrive these years, so when a new one does surface, it's great to have a guide to help you plan a walk along it. What Danny Bernstein has done with The Mountains-to-Sea Trail Across North Carolina, is produce not a how-to book, but rather a why-to book.

On the Desert's Edge is a book for all those who cherish wild places. It is a collection of anecdotal essays, poetry and photos by Dale Pate and Ron Kerbo, present and former National Park Service cave specialists who have 36 years of combined experience living, working, and exploring in and around Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks.